GPS-enabled cell phones have been integrated with interactive maps to provide subscribed users the ability to view their locations, and the locations of their friends, on interactive maps. In this manner, a user may load a map on a cell phone to view the location(s) of the user's friends in real time. GPS-enabled cell phones may also been integrated with a “check-in” feature that enables a user to select, in real-time, a location near the user's current GPS location that the user wishes to announce to other users (for example, in a social network) where the user is located.